Shigenori Togo

Shigenori Togo (10 December 1882-23 July 1950) was the Foreign Minister of Japan from October 1941 to September 1942, succeeding Teijiro Toyoda and preceding Hideki Tojo, and from April to August 1945, succeeding Kantaro Suzuki and preceding Mamoru Shigemitsu.

Biography
Shigenori Togo was born on 10 December 1882 in Hioki, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from the Tokyo Imperial University in 1904 and studied German, and in 1912 he entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was formerly a university teacher and was opposed to militarism, being both insightful and forthright. He served as ambassador to Germany and the Soviet Union at ties, and he argued for peace with the United States while serving as Foreign Minister in 1941-1942. In September 1942 he resigned over matters of policy, and he remained on the sidelines until returning to the Foreign Ministry in April 1945 on the understanding that his goal would be to negotiate a peace with the Allied Powers. In August 1945, he resigned after surrender terms were agreed to, but in 1946 he was sentenced to twenty years in prison for crimes of conspiracy against peace and leading Japan into World War II. He died in 1950 before completing the sentence.